Monday, January 31, 2011

Cairo. Egypt's army stressed on Monday that it will not use force against tens of thousands of people demonstrating around the country to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, state news agency Mena reported, cited by AFP."The armed forces have not and will not resort to the use of force against the Egyptian people," said an army statement carried by MENA.The statement comes as demonstrators prepare million-strong marches in several cities on Tuesday and as the hated police, whose clashes with protesters left more than 125 dead, last week returned to the streets after two days' absence.

IN ONE of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Derry, tens of thousands of marchers have marked the 39th anniversary of Bloody Sunday by completing the original march route to the city’s Guildhall

DAN KEENAN, Northern News Editor in Derry

Fourteen people were shot dead by the British army on January 30th, 1972 as they rallied against internment without trial. Another 13 were shot and injured.

The commemoration is intended to be the last such rally following the publication of the Saville report on June 15th last year which overturned the original investigation by Lord Widgery and exonerated the dead and injured.

However, some of the victims’ relatives broke away from the main demonstration. Relatives of William Nash, rallied at Free Derry corner, a short distance from the scene of the shootings by the Parachute Regiment, and vowed they would return every year. Linda Nash denied the relatives were split, insisting that there was a range of opinions among 27 different families.

The march was headed by relatives who carried a large banner with the word “vindicated”.

Pictures of the victims, also bearing the claim, were carried. Behind them were thousands of supporters from Derry and beyond as well as republican organisations and representatives of international conflicts from Palestine to the Basque region.

The procession took about 45 minutes to pass the junction of William Street and Rossville Street where the previous commemoration marches diverted to protest at the scene of the killings.

This time, the march continued to Guildhall Square where they were welcomed by a platform party led by John Kelly, a key spokesman of the families. Alongside him where Foyle MP and former SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. Also present were representatives of the Ballymurphy campaign, which is seeking exoneration of those shot dead by the same parachute regiment in west Belfast in August 1971.

Addressing the good-humoured crowd in Guildhall Square, Mr Adams said Bloody Sunday was a turning point in Irish history. The Saville report had overturned the Widgery findings which, Mr Adams said, “had tried to blame the marchers, tried to blame the IRA and tried to blame everyone except the British army”.

He commended British prime minister David Cameron for apologising in parliament to the people of Derry but contradicted his claim that the shootings did not define the British army’s presence in the city. “Bloody Sunday is the defining story of the British army in Ireland,” he said.

Calling for the truth to be established in relation to the Ballymurphy killings and other disputed cases, he appealed for an independent, international commission.

Mark Durkan described the rally as “possibly the last march, but not the last stand” in relation to truth and justice.

He said the Saville report was detailed in relation to the victims’ innocence, but light in relation to responsibility and demanded a “proper follow up” which would establish “full responsibility”.

The FBI yesterday issued more than 40 search warrants across the US as part of its Anonymous probe, where the distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks the group carried out on the websites of companies including MasterCard and Visa are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Last night Anonymous issued a statement branding the UK arrests "a serious declaration of war" against the group of internet "hacktivists".

Yesterday's arrests are the first in the Metropolitan police's central e-crime unit investigation in the UK.

Three teenagers, aged 15, 16 and 19, were held along with two others in a series of raids in the West Midlands, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey and London early yesterday. The teenagers have to return to their local police station on 13 April and the two men the following day.

Chris Wood, the 20-year-old Anonymous member who spokeextensivelyto the Guardian under his online alias Coldblood last month, is understood to be one of those arrested in yesterday's raids.

Police are said to have seized Wood's computers, mobile phones, hard drives and other storage devices in the arrest, and did not disclose when they would be returned.

The five were arrested in connection with the thousand-strong group known as Anonymous, which last month launched a series of crippling attacks on the websites of companies that had withdrawn support for WikiLeaks, along with a number of government sites in Tunisia and Egypt.

DDoS attacks, which bring down sites by bombarding them with repeated requests to load webpages, are illegal in the UK under the Computer Misuse Act and carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a £5,000 fine.

"You can easily arrest individuals, but you cannot arrest an ideology. We are united by a common objective and we can and will cross any borders to achieve that," Anonymous said in its statement.

"So our advice to you, the UK government, is to take this statement as a serious warning from the citizens of the world. We will not rest until our fellow anon protesters have been released."

A Europe-wide investigation being carried out in conjunction with Scotland Yard has so far led to two Dutch suspects being arrested and subsequently released.

The group is understood to have grown significantly in number and firepower since its support of WikiLeaks, with the overwhelming majority of users simply volunteering their computer to be used in the attacks.

Most of those involved in Anonymous operations do not disguise their internet protocol (IP) address, meaning they can be easily identified by police authorities.

Tax avoidance protesters needed hospital treatment today after police used CS spray to break up a demonstration on Oxford Street in central London.

Hundreds of people staged peaceful sit-ins at high street stores around the country as part of the latest UK Uncut day of action, designed to highlight companies it says are avoiding millions of pounds in tax.

In London protesters had successfully closed down Boots in Oxford Street – one of the companies campaigners accuse of tax avoidance – when police tried to arrest a woman for pushing a leaflet through the store's doors. Other demonstrators tried to stop the arrest and at least one police officer used CS spray, which hospitalised three people.

Jed Weightman, one of those who went to hospital, said protesters had joined hands to try and prevent the arrest.

"One police officer sprayed towards us and because I was tall I got a lot of it in my face," he said. "My eyes were streaming and I couldn't see anything."

Earlier this week Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said police could adopt more extreme tactics to counter the growing wave of protests, and hinted that UK Uncut demonstrators could face criminal and civil charges if they invaded shops during today's protests.

Activists reacted angrily to yesterday's events, claiming the police had been "heavy handed and disproportionate."

Anna Williams, who saw the incident, said: "This is yet another example of political policing that is about protecting corporate interests and not those of ordinary people ... We have a right to protest when the government are making unnecessary cuts that will hit the poorest in our society the hardest."

Protesters said staff at Boots had been shocked by the police tactics, and took those who were suffering from the effects of CS spray into the store and offered them free eye wash.

"The staff at Boots were fantastic and took us inside and gave us free treatment," said Gordon Maloney, 20, one of the other protesters who was hit by the CS spray. "My eyes were really streaming and my face hurt but I was most struck by the violence used by the police. I have been on a lot of demonstrations and have not seen anything like this before."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said officers had arrested a woman for damaging the door of Boots and confirmed CS spray had been used. He said he was unaware of anyone needing hospital treatment.

The London demonstration was one of around 30 taking place aroundthe UK today as part of a wider campaign against corporate tax avoidance and the government's cuts.

Using the Twitter hashtag #ukuncut, the fast-expanding group has become a rallying point for protesters and past campaigns have closed down scores of high street stores accused of avoiding tax.

At today's London demonstration protesters dressed in surgical masks and bloody bandages claimed Boots was avoiding huge sums of money by being registered in Switzerland, where taxes are far lower.

A Boots spokeswoman said it had registered in Switzerland because "in the longer term we believe it will better reflect the increasingly international nature of our wider group".

"If we had registered in Switzerland purely for tax reasons there are many other countries that we could have considered."

She added that the company had contributed to the UK's finances through increased business rates and national insurance contributions resulting from the expansion of the brand.

The mass uprisings sweeping several Arab countries have shifted their focus from Tunisia to Egypt, a country much bigger in terms of land size, population (more than 80 million) and strategic value in the conflict between the US-Zionist combine on the one hand and the Palestinian and Arab peoples on the other hand and in the US global war of terror unleashing state terrorism, wars of aggression, occupation and the rendition of US foes to the torture chambers of Egypt.

Since January 25 tens of thousands of people have poured out into the streets of major cities of Egypt in order to demand the ouster of President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak and his ruling clique. They have defied the police and military forces even as more than 150 of the protesters have been killed and hundreds have been injured by US-made weapons. In a vain attempt to appease the people, Mubarak has reshuffled his cabinet and is maneuvering to stay in power or glide into a less disgraceful exit by a promise to allow new elections according to the US formula of transition to sham democracy.

At any rate, Mubarak is apparently on the verge of losing power. His ruling party headquarters has been burnt down. He has sent out of Egypt his closest relatives and a major part of their bureaucratic loot. The police have begun to abandon their posts in several cities. And various military units are showing either a friendly or hostile face to the people in the streets. There are indications that behind the scenes the US and the generals are trying to engineer a new arrangement.

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle, salute and congratulate the people of Egypt for rising up and striving to overthrow the US-supported Mubarak regime which has long oppressed and exploited them. The people have courageously acted to repudiate the regime for its oppressiveness, its servility to US imperialism and its conformity to the US-dictated “neoliberal” economic policy which has brought about the high rate of unemployment, decline of the economy and breakdown of social services.

While the mass uprisings have been successful at isolating and debilitating the long hated oppressive regime, the US-controlled military machinery is intact and is poised to play a key role in rearranging the political setup in the interest of the US and local exploiting classes. The Egyptian state is dependent on a wide range of economic, financial and political relations with the US and other imperialist countries. Since 1975 the US alone has poured more than USD 50 billion into Egypt in order to coopt its rulers and use them as tools of US hegemonism,

The Egyptian military is dependent on a huge amount of US military assistance amounting to more than USD 1.38 billion, which is next in size only to that given to Israel. The US also gives economic assistance amounting to more than USD 800 million. The US is highly interested in the restabilization of the situation in Egypt in order to forestall the rise of anti-imperialist forces and thus maintain a balance of forces in favor of the US-Zionist combine in the region.

At any rate, through the mass uprisings, the people are asserting and exercising their sovereign power. They are opening the way to further advances and further possibilities in the struggle for national liberation, democracy, development and social justice. The revolutionary forces have the chance to expand and consolidate their strength.

To any extent that their struggle is frustrated, derailed or hijacked by their enemies, the people of Egypt can raise the level of their fighting consciousness and capabilities and go through various forms of revolutionary struggle until they muster the strength to smash the bureaucratic and military machinery of the ruling classes.

The conditions for advancing the revolutionary struggle are more fertile than ever before on the scale of Eqypt, North Africa and the Middle East and the entire world because of the grave crisis of the world capitalist system and depredations of the US-instigated policies of neoliberal globalization, state terrorism and aggression.

It has been repeatedly demonstrated in recent history that particular despotic regimes can be overthrown, such as those of Duvalier, Marcos, Somoza, Pinochet, Mobutu and Suharto. But the subsequent false facade of democracy can only be fleeting for as long as the US and the local exploiting classes can rule through a bureaucratic and military machinery beholden to them.

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle, are in solidarity with and support the people of Egypt in their great cause to build their revolutionary strength and wage various forms of mass struggle against imperialism and reaction. They need to defeat the armed counterrevolution and accomplish the people's democratic revolution. Thus they can move forward on the path of national liberation and social revolution.

ElBaradei, Muslim Brotherhood Offer Political Path Out of Egyptian Confrontation

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam el-Eryan said today that Egyptian opposition groups have agreed to back former IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to negotiate with the government. Al Jazeera reports:

Egypt's opposition groups have agreed to support
opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei to negotiate with the government, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood said on Sunday.

Cairo - The banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, told the German Press Agency dpa they are in talks with other anti-government figures to form a national unity government without President Hosny Mubarak and his ruling party.

Gamal Nasser, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, told dpa that his group was in talks with Mohammed El Baradei - the former UN nuclear watchdog chief - to form a national unity government without the National Democratic Party of Mubarak.

The group is also demanding an end to the draconian Emergency Laws, which grant police wide-ranging powers The laws have been used often to arrest and harass the Islamist group.

Nasser said his group would not accept any new government with Mubarak.

The United States is "losing credibility by the day" in calling for democracy in Egypt while continuing to support Mubarak, ElBaradei told CBS on Sunday.

"On one hand you're talking about democracy, rule of law and human rights, and on the other hand you're lending still your support to a dictator that continues to oppress his people," he said.

ElBaradei serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group.

Soros himself serves as a member of the organization’s Executive Committee. In other words, this is a major geopolitical steering group for the global elite.

The fact that their man El Baradei is being primed to head up the post-Mubarak government should set alarm bells ringing in the ears of every demonstrator who is protesting in the name of trying to wrestle Egypt away from the clutches of US Imperialism and Global Capitalism and the neo-Liberal elite.

Comrade Maqdesi salutes the Egyptian people and their struggle

Comrade Khalil Maqdesi, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine expressed in an interview today, January 27, 2011, his salutes for the people of Egypt and their struggle for democracy and social justice, as centrally important for all Arab people.

Comrade Maqdesi said that the PFLP has a long history of comradeship and struggle alongside the national movement of the Egyptian people, and that Egypt has a long and proud history of leadership in the Arab nation. This relationship between the PFLP and the Egyptian movement, he noted, was particularly strong and abiding throughout the Nasser era. However, since the beginning of the attempted liquidation of the Nasserist project and the signing of the Camp David accords between Egypt and our enemy, Israel, Egypt became subject to imperialist and capitalist plunder, and the people of Egypt were isolated from the rest of the Arab nation at the hands of the new regime. The PFLP has always had a clear position in strong opposition to Camp David and the regimes it bred, held in place not by popular support or legitimacy but instead at the financial and military hand of U.S. imperialism. Sadat was assassinated but his regime continued; three decades have passed and new generations have been born under the dictatorship of the U.S.-allied regime, said Comrade Maqdesi.

Furthermore, said Comrade Maqdesi, it is because of the structure of Camp David and subservience to imperialism that the Egyptian regime has taken Zionist and U.S. dictates in its approach to Palestine, participating in the siege of Gaza, denying access to solidarity and Arab delegations seeking to support the people of Gaza and provide humanitarian aid, and shutting down the tunnels that provide a lifeline to a people under siege. At the same time that the regime has taken these policies, the Egyptian people have retained their clear voice of solidarity and common struggle with their Arab sisters and brothers in Palestine, said Comrade Maqdesi.

Comrade Maqdesi said that, if we look back upon the Iranian revolution that toppled the Shah in 1979, it came almost at the same time as the signing of the Camp David accords. Since that time, Egypt has not entered any war; however, Iran was subjected to eight years of unjust war, he said. Yet, he said, if we look today at these two countries that have many similarities, we can clearly see the huge gap between the economic strength, influence, and geostrategic position of the two countries. In Iran, popular classes benefit from the wealth of the nation and there are democratic processes, despite the flaws and problems that exist, he said, and Iran has become a center for the development of science and technology as well as an important regional and international power. On the other hand, accomodation with Zionism and imperialism have led Egypt into economic and social devastation, in which 60% of people are under the poverty line, unemployment and underemployment are rampant, and Egyptian industry, commerce, and science is controlled by a small clique and the great wealth of Egypt held in the hands of less than 1000 people.

In addition, said Comrade Maqdesi, if we look at the region today, we see three major powers: Turkey, Iran and Israel. Despite the vast differences between the three powers, what is missing entirely is a strong Arab power that demonstrates leadership and legitimacy. The people of Egypt, he said, are convinced that the historical and geographical position of Egypt will be restored only through a real and drastic change in Egypt. Comrade Maqdesi also pointed out that what happened in Tunisia has quickened the process in Egypt, but all the conditions in Egypt have provided a context that is ripe for social and political revolution.

Today, the people of Egypt have entered the streets to claim their country for their own, said Comrade Maqdesi. This, he noted, is a critically important struggle for the Egyptian people, the Palestinian people, and the entire Arab nation. The Egyptian people are in the streets, calling for democracy, for dignity, for justice, and for bread. They are marching, he said, against Camp David and all it stands for and means for Egypt and the Arab nation - subservience, submission, dictatorship and silence. He said that the PFLP is proud to stand beside the popular classes of Egypt, who are an inspiration to the Arab world who hold the potential of ending the era of Camp David, the era of defeat and submission, not only in Egypt, but throughout the Arab nation.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Marxist Leninist Maoist Class analysis is vital at the moment wherever the struggle - in Egypt and the Arab world the comprador class's needs public exposure along with the wavering elements of the national bourgeoisie.

The finance capitalists or monopoly finance capitalists the authors of the current global financial crisis are trying to make the working class and oppressed minorities pay - the working class and all oppressed groups must unite to overthrow parasitic Imperialism the monopoly stage of capitalism.

Who are our friends who are our enemies is answered by MLM class anaylsis in your country and globally.

When you carry out your MLM class analysis base it on production relations not consumption relations - those pseudo leftists who want to base class on consumption relations come out with the counter revolutionary theory of three worlds to divide the working class in Imperialist countries from those oppressed by Imperialism.

KATHMANDU, JAN 28 - The UCPN (Maoist) on Friday said the conditions put forth by the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML for the leadership of the new government would not be acceptable to the party, the leadership of the new government would not be acceptable to the party.

A Standing Committee meeting of the party held at its headquarters, Parishdanda, concluded that the peace process and government formation are two separate issues.

The meeting decided to remain adamant on its previous decision to lay claim to the government leadership in its capacity as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA), said Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma.

“No precondition regarding the formation of new government would be acceptable to the party. The peace and constitution drafting process will gain momentum after the formation of Maoist-led government,” said Sharma.

Earlier, the NC and UML had set preconditions that they would accept the Maoist leadership in the government provided that the Terms of Reference for the integration process is finalised.

He added the talks with NC and UML was positive and the party is trying to take it to a logical end. The talks between the big three parties—Maoist, NC and UML—is continuing by making the peace process and constitution-drafting as the bases of consensus.

The meeting resolved that only the government under its leadership can ease the peace and constitution drafting processes.

The NC and UML have been saying that the Maoist-led coalition can be accepted only if the latter created a trustworthy environment to conclude the peace process.

All four heads of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were scheduled to meet with the Egyptian officials. The sessions are being hosted by Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs.

Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this text prepared by Indian comrades on the Path to Revolution for Colonies and Semi Colonies for a discussion on the New Democratic Revolution in view of current Global developments especially the upsurge of peoples struggle in the Arab World..

Immediately after the establishment of the Chinese Peoples’ Republic the international communist movement gave open recognition to the significance of the Chinese path of revolution, for the colonies and semi-colonies. In the 27 January, 1950, editorial of For a Lasting Peace, For a People’s Democracy, the organ of the Cominform, it was stated, “The path taken by the Chinese people… is the path that should be taken by the people of many colonial and dependent countries in their struggle for national independence and people’s democracy.

“The experience of the victorious national-liberation struggle of the Chinese people teaches that the working class must unite with all classes, parties, groups and organisations willing to fight the imperialists and their hirelings and to form a broad, nation-wide united front, headed by the working class and its vanguard—the communist party…

“A decisive condition for the victorious outcome of the national-liberation struggle is the formation, when the necessary internal conditions allow for it, of people’s liberation armies under the leadership of the communist party.”

Thus, the universal applicability of Marxist-Leninist theory developed by Mao—i.e. Mao Tse-tung Thought—was recognised, and began to become the guideline for genuine revolutionaries throughout the world, particularly in the colonies and semi-colonies.

Mao’s formulation of the Chinese Path of Revolution had been developed in his numerous writings during the advance of the Revolution. Lenin had already pointed out that in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution it was the proletariat and not the bourgeoisie that would lead the bourgeois democratic revolution. Mao in his work On New Democracy, carrying this understanding ahead, further pointed out that in this era, any revolution in a colony or semi-colony that is directed against imperialism, no longer comes within the old category of the bourgeois-democratic world revolution, but within a new category; it is no longer part of the old bourgeois, or capitalist, world revolution, but is part of the new world revolution, the proletarian-socialist world revolution. Such revolutionary colonies and semi-colonies can no longer be regarded as allies of the counter-revolutionary front of world capitalism; they have become allies of the revolutionary front of world socialism. Thus, in order to differentiate from the old bourgeois democratic revolution, he called the revolution in the colonies and semi-colonies a New Democratic Revolution. On this basis he elaborated the politics, economy and culture of New Democracy.

Mao also developed on the understanding of the united front that Lenin and Stalin had given. He showed that the bourgeoisie in the colonies and semi-colonies was divided into two parts – the comprador bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. The comprador bourgeoisie, who depended on imperialism for its existence and growth, was always an enemy of the revolution. The national bourgeoisie was a vacillating ally who would sometimes help the revolution and sometimes join the enemies. Thus the united front under the leadership of the proletariat would consist of a four class alliance – the proletariat, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. The enemies of the revolution were imperialism, the comprador bourgeoisie and the landlords.

According to Mao the revolution in the colonies and semi-colonies would not follow the path of insurrection followed by the Russian Revolution where the main cities were captured first and then control taken over the countryside. He showed the Chinese path of protracted people’s war which involved the areawise seizure of power in the countryside, the building of guerrilla zones and base areas and the final encircling and capturing of the cities. To achieve this Mao laid down the military principles of revolutionary war. He taught how to build up the Red Army, which was an absolutely necessary weapon of the revolution. Starting from guerrilla warfare and then moving to mobile warfare and finally to positional warfare, Mao showed the way how a small force can rely on the vast masses to build up the forces needed to defeat a formidable enemy.

Finally, basing himself on the Marxist-Leninist understanding of the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat, Mao elaborated the theory regarding the form of the state in the revolutions in the colonial countries. On the basis of the theory of New Democracy, he formulated the understanding of the new- democratic republic.

This new-democratic republic he said would be different from the old European-American form of capitalist republic under bourgeois dictatorship which is the old democratic form and already out of date. On the other hand, it would also be different from the socialist republic of the Soviet type under the dictatorship of the proletariat. For a certain historical period, this form too was not suitable for the revolutions in the colonial and semi-colonial countries. During this period, therefore, a third form of state was necessary to be adopted in the revolutions of all colonial and semi-colonial countries, namely, the new-democratic republic under the joint dictatorship of several anti-imperialist classes. Since this form suits a certain historical period it is therefore transitional. Nevertheless, according to Mao, it is a form that is necessary and cannot be dispensed with.

This state was established after the victory of the Chinese Revolution in the form of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship. Mao explained the essence of the people’s democratic dictatorship as the combination of two aspects – democracy for the people and dictatorship over the reactionaries. The people are the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. These classes, led by the working class and the Communist Party, unite to form their own state and elect their own government; they enforce their dictatorship over the running dogs of imperialism—the landlord class and bureaucrat-bourgeoisie, as well as the representatives of those classes.

Mao further pointed out that the Communist Party had to lead the process of transformation of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship into a Socialist State. The people’s democratic dictatorship, led by the proletariat and based on the worker-peasant alliance, required that the Communist Party should unite the entire working class, the entire peasantry and the broad masses of revolutionary intellectuals; these are the leading and basic forces of the dictatorship. Without this unity, the dictatorship cannot be consolidated. It is also required that the Party unite with as many as possible of the representatives of the urban petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie who were ready to co-operate and with their intellectuals and political groups. This was necessary to isolate the counter-revolutionary forces. If this were done it would be possible, after the victory of the revolution, to speedily restore and develop production, cope with foreign imperialism, steadily transform a backward semi-colonial agricultural economy into an industrial country and build up a socialist state.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

London
National demo – No Fees, No Cuts! Defend Education & the Public Sector!
Called by NCAFC and backed by UCU, Unite and GMB
Assemble 12 noon University of London Union (ULU) Malet Street, London WC1
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184694258211136

Democracy and Class Strugglepublishes this speech of comrade Bhattarai because it challenges the Liberal democracy of the elites and poses the real alternative of mass or Proletarian democracy. This speech while addressing the problems and prospects of the Nepalese Revolution will find resonance in the current struggle against the comprador elites in the Arab World and beyond.

Democracy has been an elusive term, one that has been used to mean different things. The much effective propaganda of the Western imperialist world that presents ‘liberal democracy’ as the only legitimate form of democracy has always tried to position Marxism, socialism and communism as the opposite of democracy.

But Marxists have been and should be the most relentless advocates, defenders and practitioners of democracy. Marx and Engels stated in the Communist Manifesto of 1848 that, “The first step in the revolution by the working class, is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.” The Marxist project, for the first time gave a class perspective to democracy by providing an incisive and holistic critique of ‘neutral’ liberal state and ‘free-market’ economy under bourgeois democracy. But perhaps even more significant than this critique was the development of the Marxian idea of democracy as a class state; dictatorship of the proletariat would replace the dictatorship of the capitalists; it would use its power to abolish the legal basis of capitalism and replace private ownership and control with social ownership and control of production. The whole purpose of this period of proletariat rule, or the higher form of democracy would be to establish a classless society.

The democracy of capitalist society is curtailed, wretched and false; it is a democracy for the rich minority. The dictatorship of the proletariat and the period of transition to communism will, for the first time, create democracy for the majority) and the necessary suppression of the exploitative minority. As Lenin told us in State and Revolution, “Communism alone is capable of providing really complete democracy, and the more complete it is, the sooner it will become unnecessary and wither away of its own accord.”

Fight for democracy

Nepal is a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country that has been ruled by an autocratic monarchy for several hundred years. The movement for New Democracy started with the establishment of the Communist Party of Nepal in 1949. The more-or-less peaceful movement, which lasted until the 1990s, brought about only cosmetic changes. The protracted ‘People’s War’ initiated in 1996 destroyed the roots of feudalism, ending in the abolition of monarchy in 2008. Since then, a Democratic Republic has been declared in the country and an elected Constitutional Assembly is now in the process of institutionalising democracy.

The rapid success of the ‘People’s War’ was mainly attributed to the raising of the democratic agenda against feudal autocracy. Also the class question was very judiciously fused with national, regional, gender and caste questions. As the traditional parliamentary democratic forces could not mount a decisive struggle against feudal autocracy due to their vacillating and compromising character, the Maoists could effectively champion the cause of democracy and lead millions of people, emerging as the largest political formation in the country.

The struggle against imperialism in general and expansionism in particular was also a part of the struggle for democracy. In other words, the struggle for nationalism and democracy was correctly blended to unite the whole country behind progressive forces. However, the delicate geo-strategic position of the country puts serious constraints on charting an independent path of development.

After 2006, the UCPN (Maoist) has signed a comprehensive peace accord with the parliamentary parties to abolish monarchy and establish the democratic republic. However, after the abolition of monarchy, the inevitable contradiction between the bourgeois democratic forces and the proletarian revolutionary forces has sharpened leading to a prolonged political impasse. The razing struggle between bourgeois democracy and proletarian democracy has been sharply manifested while drafting a new constitution. The issue of PLA integration into the traditional Nepal Army (NA) has also hindered the peace process.

As a country of tremendous ethnic, regional, linguistic and cultural diversity, the question of federal restructuring of the state is another thorn stalling the political process. The internal nationality question is part and parcel of the broader democratic question. The ability to resolve the nationality question in the most scientific way will determine the success of the democratic movement in the country.

The overwhelming majority of the population in Nepal is part of the poor peasantry. Rampant poverty, unemployment, inequality, and dependence plague the economy. As such, a new democratic restructuring of the economy is the immediate democratic agenda including revolutionary land reform based on the principle of ‘land to the tiller’.

Problems and challenges

The foremost challenge to be faced by any revolutionary movement is the question of development of the ideological and political line based on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM). The defence, application and development of MLM are the most important tasks of the proletarian revolutionaries.

Whatever gains we have made in Nepal in advancing the revolution so far are primarily because of our constant thrust to guard against both dogmatic and pragmatic distortions of Marxism. Even while launching the armed ‘People’s War’ in 1996 and practicing peaceful development of revolution since its end, we have been constantly hammering the need to defend and develop MLM and to discard dogmatism and pragmatism. We have tried to be ‘critical’ and ‘revolutionary’ throughout, as Lenin and Mao used to exhort. We have strived to learn bitter lessons from both ‘left’ and ‘right’ liquidation of revolutionary movements especially during the past few decades. The debacle faced by the Peruvian revolution has been our latest reference point. At times our friends, both inside and outside (including India), have been alarmed by our bold experiments in revolutionary practice, especially during the recent peace process. But we have consistently proved their apprehensions wrong and resolve to continue to do so.

Another theoretical issue currently being debated within the Maoist party is the nature of democratic revolution. In a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society one has to pass through a stage of bourgeois democratic revolution before transiting to socialism. Especially in a country like Nepal, where autocratic monarchy has ruled for hundreds of years, it would be prudent to go through a phase of democratic republic before completing the bourgeois democratic revolution. A democratic republic was established through a peace negotiation with the parliamentary parties after 10 years of ‘People’s War’. But the question now is how to turn this democratic republic into a People’s Democracy or New Democracy. Can it be achieved through the Constituent Assembly? Or, is an armed insurrection necessary? Also, the usefulness and prudence of the democratic republic phase is being questioned. It is exactly here that the differences between anarchism, reformism and Marxism come out sharply. Whereas reformists disagree with a revolutionary leap, anarchists discard the need of passing through stages and sub-stages. Marxists support both revolutionary leaps and the need to pass through stages.

The question of imperialism and expansionism has been another important issue in Nepal’s revolutionary movement. Whereas globalised imperialism has spread its tentacles in almost all spheres of the Nepali economy, society and state, the domination of expansionism in the last 200 years has been the most vexing issue. There has been a razing debate within the Maoist party regarding the strategy to fight against foreign domination, particularly expansionism. Also, given the country’s sensitive position between the emerging global powers in India and China, a balanced relation with both neighbours is crucial for the success of the New Democratic revolution. It is thus prudent to focus on the internal democratic agenda to unify the country and to take on foreign domination.

The fight for loktantra in Nepal is sure to reach its climax in the next few months. Either we will move ahead by rising above the traditional parliamentary democracy on the way to drafting the constitution of a People’s Federal Democratic Republic or the country will move towards regression even before the May 28 deadline. In order to forestall this possibility and institutionalize a loktantrik government system in, all true republicans, patriots and progressive forces should not delay their joint effort towards this goal.

Adapted from the third Anuradha Gandhi Memorial Lecture delivered by Bhattarai in Mumbai on Jan. 14th 2011 taken from Kathmandu Post